MUMBAI: Singer-lyricist Priya Saraiya feels this is the perfect time for music. Priya acquired her Hindustani Classical training from Gandharva Mahavidyalaya and Western training from Trinity College of London.

Recently the lyricist made some amazing songs for movies like Simran and Bhoomi. Priya made the title track of Simran and four songs of Bhoomi --Trippy Trippy, Daag,Laag Ja Gale  and Kho Diya Hai -- with her composer husband Jigar, one half of the composer duo Sachin-Jigar. Well this is not the first time the husband-wife pair has got together. They have collaborated earlier on Gulabi from the movie Shuddh Desi Romance.

Priya wrote the lyrics of the title track of Simran. Speaking about her work she said, “The movie was directed by Hansal Mehta. It was his vision and he was so sure about Kangana’s character. Whatever he narrated I tried to put it in the lyrics. The narration was so good that the entire character came live in front our eyes.”  

Priya feels happy to be in that realm of being nominated and winning awards. She said, “It would even felt better if I’d got the awards. Going so close to that point yet not being able to make it makes me feel little disheartened. But nevertheless it keeps me motivated, inspires me to work hard and come with more song ideas.”  

Priya has been nominated for Stardust and Apsara Awards in 2011 in Best Lyrics category for Saibo and in Best Singer Category for Piya O Re Piya at GIMA Awards in 2012. She has won IITA Award in 2012 for Afsar Bitiya title song in Best Lyrics category. She has also won Gauravvanta Gujrati Award in 2014 and has been nominated for Filmfare Award 2016 in Best Female Singer category for Sun Saathiya.

Being trained in Both Hindustani Classical and Western Music helps Priya do well in Bollywood space. She explained, “Now-a-days Bollywood songs are not made on a particular ragas. In fact, we’ve not been coming up with raag based songs. We have definitely adopted Western music in Bollywood like rap, pop culture and more.”   

Furthermore, Priya and Jigar, are not just husband-wife but they are good companions. “When we met, we were more like friends. Now he is so much into music. He keeps motivating me to keep going. We learn from each other and we even share a healthy rapport with Sachin. He is like family to us. We have a musical ambience these days in the house,” added the lyricist.

On changing times in the music industry, she said, “Country is exposed to world music these days. The taste of the audience is also changing drastically day by day because they are listening to so many international artistes on YouTube, Saavn and iTune, etc. The audience is smart; they don’t accept easily. They want something lyrically rich and grooves of the song to be better. Clearly audience have evolved and with that our music taste are also evolving. It is a good era for music.”  

The multitalented musician is looking forward to performing with more producers. She said, “I really need to break my comfort zone and work with composers like Vishal Bhardwaj and Vishal Shekhar.”